Star Trek

 

Black Hole Of Doom

Part Two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Derek Kestner

Based on STAR TREKTM Created by Gene Roddenberry

            Last time on Star Trek: Bozeman: The crew of the Bozeman gets a new member, Consular Ashley Rickman. Derek takes an immediate liking to the new member. The Bozeman is en route to a mysterious black hole that has been sucking ships into it. The crew finds out that it’s not a black hole but a wormhole. Now they must fight to get out alive.

 

            Captains Morgan Bateson sat back in his chair. He slammed his fist onto the armrest. What can we do? Bateson thought. The bridge crew sat awaiting their orders. An idea suddenly hit him like a two-by-four across the face. He turned his chair around to face Mike Dennis.

            “What would happen if we fired on the wormhole?” he asked.

            “It would destroy the wormhole-,” Dennis began.

            Without letting him finish Bateson turned to Whitney Gallimore. “Ms. Gallimore, prepare to fire on the wormhole.”

            “-and us with it,” Dennis said calmly.

            “What?” Bateson asked.

            “Yes sir. We destroy the wormhole with us inside it, we will be destroyed,” Dennis said.

            Bateson’s smile turned into a frown. He said, “Ms.Gallimore, forget the order to fire.”

            “Aye sir,” Gallimore said.

            The next couple of minutes were spent in silence. Then suddenly something came up on Derek’s scanners. “Captain, I believe the opening is just ahead,” Derek said.

            “On screen” Bateson ordered. Sure enough the opening was straight ahead. Bateson smiled once more.

            “Captain, we do not know what is out there, perhaps we should go to yellow alert,” Bush said.   

            “Good thinking Gabe,” Bateson said. “Go to red alert.”

            The running lights turned red, an alarm blared and a voice said, “Red Alert! Red Alert! All hands to battle stations.” The action on the bridge picked up. People were running though the turbolift doors.

            Closer and closer the Bozeman came to the opening of the wormhole. The bridge crew tensed. Then they shot though the opening. “Where are we?” Bateson asked.

            Michael Dennis looked at his scanner. “Captain, the sensors say that we are in Cardassian space,” he reported.

            Bateson turned to Whitney. “Prepare weapons for an attack, raise shields!”

            Whitney did as she was told. Bateson turned back around. “Andy, reverse thrusters, see if we can slow this thing down a little bit.”

            “Aye sir,” Welch said. He fired the thrusters; this helped in the slow the ship down. The farther they went from the wormhole the slower the Bozeman went. It finally stopped after fifteen minutes.

            Dennis turned his chair around so fast it almost flew off the hinge. “Captain, two Cardassian ships are coming this way, they’ll be here in six minutes!” he shouted.

            “Ms. Gallimore, prepare for combat,” Bateson ordered. He pushed a button on his chair and said, “Scotty, how much power do we have?”

            “Sir, I can give ye warp five,” Scotty said.

            “Not enough to get away from the Cardassians sir,” Dennis said.

            Bateson thought for a moment. “How many ships are coming?”

            “Only one sir, the others are all down on their southern border.”

            “Thank you Mr. Scott.” Bateson cleared his throat and addressed the bridge. “If we can handle these Cardassians I believe we can get away from here, so prepare for battle.”

            The Cardassian ship got closer to the Bozeman. It was finally in weapons range. A red sphere, photon torpedo, flew from the front of the ship toward the Bozeman. “Captain, they’re firein’ at us,” Whitney said.

            “Evasive: One-two-six-mark-three!” Bateson shouted. The Bozeman turned on its y-axis. The torpedo smashed starboard side. The Bozeman was flung to port. “Fire photon torpedoes!”

            Two red balls flew from the Bozeman. They smashed into the Cardassian shields. The Cardassian ship turned to follow the Bozeman. “Fire phasers!” Bateson shouted. An energy beam, know as a phaser, flew from the Bozeman and smashed into the Cardassian shields.

            The Cardassian ship fired another photon torpedo. “Evasive: Two-one-six-mark-five!” Bateson shouted. It smashed into the rear of the Bozeman. The ship tilted downward. “Correct heading,” Bateson ordered.

            The Bozeman corrected its heading the went back to its previous course. Another Cardassian torpedo hit the shields. The ship was tilted once again. “Correct heading then turn and face the Cardassian, we’re gonna blow him outta space.”

            “Aye sir,” Welch said. The Bozeman turned to face the Cardassian ship.

            “Fire!” Two torpedos’ flew from the Bozeman and hit the Cardassian ship. They returned the fire. It struck the Bozeman with a violent force. Whitney fell back. Derek jumped from his station and ran to her. She seemed to be all right, so he helped her get back up.

            “Thank you,” she said.

            “It was nothing,” Derek said. He walked back down to his station. Another Cardassian torpedo hit the shields. The ship jolted violently.

            “Fire back, give them everything you’ve got!” Bateson shouted. Two torpedos flew from the ship, then two more. They all hit the Cardassian ship. The ship veered off course. “Fire!” Two more left the torpedo bay on a direct course for the Cardassian.

            A small trail of smoke came from the top of the ship. “Fire!” Another torpedo zoomed away. It smashed into the shields; the explosion veered the ship more off course.

            Dayton suddenly turned in his chair. “Captain, the ship just signaled for help, the closest ship can be here in fifteen minutes, and more are coming.”

            “Sir, we can’t handle much more, I suggest we head for the Klingon border, if they follow us they will be hit by the Klingon border patrols,” Bush said.

            “Good thinking, if we can get across the border we will be alright,” Bateson said. “Mike, what would happen if we destroyed the wormhole from the other side?”

            “It would cause a reaction that would destroy the whole thing,” Dennis said.

            “Good, that’s what I wanted to hear,” Bateson said. “Andy, set a course for the wormhole, maximum warp.”

            “But sir, I thought we were going to the Klingon border,” Bush said.

            “We were, but if we can get those Cardassian ships to follow us into the wormhole when we get out the other side we can destroy the wormhole and all that is in it,” Bateson explained. “Derek was right, that wormhole was made, by the Cardassians. They knew one of our biggest border patrols was around the Klingon border, so they somehow made the wormhole which pulled ships into it, once they came out the other side two or three ships would be waiting to over take it.”

            “What was their purpose,” Rickman asked.

            “I suppose they would steal the cargo on the ship and then destroy it,” Bateson said.

            “Of course, that would explain it, but wont it take us an hour to get though the hole, it took us an hour the first time,” Derek said.

            “If my guess is correct it won’t, the first time we came thorough we did it on the wormholes power, if we put some of our own speed in we could probably decrease that amount by half,” Bateson said.

            “Captain, the Cardassians a adjusting their courses to follow us, what should we do about the other ship we fought?” Dennis asked.

            “Let it go off to lick its wounds,” Bateson said.

            A short time later they came upon the entrance to the wormhole. Before they went in Bateson said, “You must realize that the force on the wormhole is moving the other way, it was not made to be entered this way. It will take every ounce of power we have to get into it, but we must, or we’re doomed, we can’t out run the Cardassian ships.” A pause to let that sink in then Bateson continued, “If we are shot at we must make every effort to destroy the phaser or photon torpedo, if not it will hit the side and destroy us, if we can’t destroy it then we will take the hit, understood?”

            The crew nodded. “Very well, Andy, take us in.” The space between the wormhole and the Bozeman decreased. The closer they got the more force was pushed against the ship. Bateson tapped a button on his chair. “Scotty, your gonna have to give us all the power you’ve got.”

            “I’m tryin’ sir, the engines are takein’ a real beatin’,” Scotty said. “I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up.”

            “Mr. Scott, you must keep it up, if you don’t we may all die,” Bateson said. “Bateson out.”

            The Bozeman was shaking rapidly; Bateson started to worry that they would not make it. “Come on, come on, make it in, make it in,” he whispered. Five more seconds of shaking then they were in.

            “Captain, speed increasing, warp six…warp seven…warp eight…warp nine…warp ten…warp eleven…warp twelve…warp thirteen…warp fourteen…warp fifteen…holding at warp fifteen sir,” Welch said.

            “Are the Cardassians following us?” Bateson asked.

            “Hold on a second Captain,” Dennis said.  “Yes sir, they are behind us.”

            “Ms. Gallimore, strengthen the aft shields,” Bateson ordered.

            “Aye sir,” Whitney said.

            “Estimated time to getting out of the other side?” Bateson said.

            “Thirty minutes sir,” Derek said.

 

            The Bozeman zoomed in the wormhole. The Cardassians fired at the ship; the Bozeman took the blow with no problem. The crew wanted to get out of the wormhole. Bateson sat in his chair ready to order a turn if needed. Then something hit him.

            “Be careful about the turn, it will be coming up soon,” Bateson said. Three seconds later the Bozeman hit a hard right. The crew was almost flung off their feet. Whitney quickly grabbed her console and held on. The Cardassians fired again.

            “Captain, they fired again, but it won’t hit us!” Dennis shouted.

            “Correct course, put us into the torpedo!” Bateson shouted. The Bozeman turned, the torpedo smashed against the ship. The crew grabbed their consoles for support.

            “Captain, I don’t know how much longer the aft shields can hold out,” Whitney said.

            “They’ve got to hold out. Derek, how long until we can get out?”

            “Eighteen Minutes sir,” Derek said.

            Bateson tapped a button on his chair and said, “Scotty, get me as much power as you can and put it into the warp core.”

            “Aye sir, I don’ know how much longa we can hold out,” Scotty said.

            “Just get me power.”

            “Aye sir.”

            The next five minutes the crew fought to keep the torpedos from hitting the wormhole. “Captain, they’re not even targeting us anymore, they are trying to blow up the wormhole,” Dennis said.

            Bateson tapped the comm link on his chair. “Scotty, how much power you got me?”

            “Captain, it’s slow go, we canna go to fast,” Scotty reported.

            “Captain, I’ve got enough power for warp six,” Welch reported.

            “Warp six Andy. Thank you Scotty, Bateson out.”

            The ship accelerated to warp six. “Derek, how much time?”

            “Ten minutes present speed,” Derek said.

            “Very good.”

            “Captain, they’re firein’ again,” Dennis said.

            “Andy.”

            The Bozeman once again turned into the torpedo. “Sir, can’t we fire back?” Whitney.

            “No, we are trying hard to keep those things from hitting the sides, they will not,” Bateson said.

            Ten minutes later the Bozeman flew from the wormhole. “Fire!” Bateson shouted. Two photon torpedoes flew from the ship. They hit the wormhole on the side and began the chain reaction, which destroyed the wormhole…and the Cardassian ships.

            “Well I’m glad that’s over,” Bush said in his brisk English voice.

            “I’m very glad it’s over,” Bateson said. He rubbed the his palms on the chair then said, “Wizz, contact Starfleet Command and ask for our new orders.”

            Dayton smiled. “Aye sir.”